Helen called me New Year’s Day…she was having severe right side pain…she went to the hospital by ambulance and after an ultrasound, it was determined that she has another gall stone in her bile duct and an inflamed gallbladder…they waited until the next day to figure out what to do…but eventually said they needed to send her to Des Moines to have a procedure done where they remove the gallstone from the duct by going down thru the throat…she would be “out” during the procedure…then she would come back to Newton and the surgeon felt comfortable taking out her gallbladder..so she made a trip to  Des Moines in the ambulance and was scheduled for the procedure yesterday….Aunt Frances was with her and after hearing the things that the doctor said could happen, in their 90 year old wisdom, they decided against Helen having the procedure.  It took 3 days the last time for her liver enzymes to go out of whack…she was told several times that the gallstone has to be removed or it will begin to affect her liver and in the end her liver will shut down..and…she needs the gallbladder removed due to inflamation and infection…but they decided no…not only that…but I heard from Dana today that Aunt Frances doesn’t want me to be involved in these decisions because they are Helen’s decisions to make.  That and where she will go to live when she is released from the hospital…neither one of them has figured out yet that Helen probably won’t be going anywhere for very long….

I would have been there for the procedure yesterday…maybe…but I woke up at 6 and had the flu.  Kate took off at 4am to head back to Ohio…”He” called her when he got home and she was in Illinois but she had the flu also…It was a miserable day for both of us but more so for my little girl…she drove the 10 hours by herself stopping every now and then to throw up….

But that is all over now…Kate and I survived although..sometimes when you are needing to throw up and you just sit and moan, you wonder if it is all worth it…ya know what I’m saying….